


How to Make Pizza

by SheilaPaulson



Category: WALL-E (2008)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-11
Updated: 2013-02-11
Packaged: 2017-11-29 00:16:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/680499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SheilaPaulson/pseuds/SheilaPaulson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Settling in after the return to Earth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	How to Make Pizza

Operation: Recolonize - Day 45

So many times during the course of each day, Captain McCrea recalled with great fondness upon his life on the Axiom. He had faced no worries, no stresses, speciality bots took care of everything, and the most excitement in his life until the EVE probe had returned from Earth with the plant that had changed everything was giving the morning report. He had looked forward to it as a break in the mindless numbness of each programmed day.

Programmed days had become a thing of the past, since EVE had returned from Earth accompanied by a little trash-compactor robot named WALL-E. The little bot's eagerness and enthusiasm had won over far more people than the Captain, injecting a new spirit in folk whose every day had been programmed, every interaction through holo-screens rather than face-to-face. After such an existence, Earth had proven so real and so unexpected--so raw and exciting--that a number of timid folks still lurked on the ship and refused to venture outside at all. There were days when the Captain wished he could do the same but, most of the time, almost all of the time, he relished the challenge of helping the homeworld return to life. The plant--no, it should be The Plant in capital letters--continued to thrive, and every morning he went to visit it, where it was protected by a little fence to keep it safe. He still gave the daily reports each morning; informing the people of the day's weather conditions before they ventured outside. The first time it had rained, men and women had stampede to the ship in sheer terror. But the bolder people had watched little WALL-E, who ventured out in all weathers, and followed his example. He brought them those shelter devices, umbrellas, from his vast collection of ancient memorabilia and displayed how they worked for anyone who was interested.

It wasn't up to WALL-E alone to clean up the land around the Axiom and provide clear space to grow crops. The big WALL-A units from the ship's trash compaction area had been put to work, and as large open areas were cleared, more and more plants were discovered and coaxed into growing. Operation: Recolonize was aided by a huge supply of seeds in the storage compartments of the Axiom along with instruction manuals to make them work. The captain had needed to teach the new farmers what books were, so they could learn how to make a life outside the ship. Some of the folk had grown so fond of books they had gone on scouting expeditions through the abandoned city to look for more reading material. A whole sealed section of the nearest Buy-N-Large facility had contained books, a real treasure. Everyone was learning. It wasn't easy. But it was living, rather than simply surviving.

No more hover chairs except for the elderly and a few hold-outs who clung to the mindless comforts they had known all their lives. The captain went to bed each night totally exhausted and aching in muscles he had never dreamed existed. Yet each day he could walk farther, stay on his feet longer. The contoured clothing the ship had provided molded to his slowly reducing shape, and every day, people thronged to the jogging track to improve their health. Supply bots created shoes for anyone who meant to venture beyond the ship. The footwear felt strange, but it was better than walking barefoot over rough ground.

"Well, good morning, pioneers," he began the morning announcements. He'd discovered the word "pioneer" in a book, and loved it. They were bold explorers of a brand new world. "This is Day 45 of our return to Earth. The weather is slightly chilly but will warm to a high of 76º, and there will be periods of bright sunshine with no dust storms forecast. First shift field workers report to your duty station in forty minutes. Exploration Team 10, this is your day to search southward for useful items and for sound structures for those who wish to live apart from the ship, or to select locations where housing may be assembled." The storage holds contained whole prefabricated houses ready to be assembled either by construction bots or by the colonists themselves as they grew fitter. "Exploration Team 4, your task is to follow the river and determine which bridges are safe. For those who remain on the ship, lessons on planetary weather, farming, building construction, and exploration will be held on the Lido Deck. The pool remains closed during lessons, as usual, but will open this evening for those who wish to unwind after the excitement of the day. Go out and enjoy the Earth." He shut down and turned to his new Gofer bot. "Has WALL-E come to the ship this morning?"

"Negative," said the robot in its flat, programmed voice. A pity they couldn't learn to sound more normal. Maybe they could.

Once the ship had returned to Earth, EVE had returned WALL-E to his home, an abandoned BnL truck, to try to mend him after the attack by the Auto-Pilot and nearly being crushed by the holo-detector. Restored to his cheerful, unprogrammed self, he had happily chosen to live where he had always lived, EVE with him, but he visited the ship each day, often trailed by his merry band of reject bots and the little cleaning bot, M-O. Contact with the people, especially the newlyweds John and Mary, who had befriended him, had improved his speech, but he was still quirky, and the passengers, no, pioneers, loved him.

"I will spend the day outside," the captain said. "I'll look for him myself."

 

*****

 

WALL-E and EVE made their way along a narrow passage between the abandoned high-rise buildings of the city, EVE swooping above piles of rubble to scout for useful items, and WALL-E following routes he had often traveled in the long years before EVE had come, following his directive: to clean up the Earth. As fellow cleaning robots failed and he had found himself alone save for the companionship of his pet cockroach, who was not much of a talker, WALL-E had come to limit himself to reactive ooh's and ahh's. Now, with the companionship of EVE, he talked more than before.

"Ee-vah?" he said to get her attention, and pointed to a sign on a building. Reading had no part in WALL-E's original programming, but he knew certain words by sight, and "books" was one of them. Captain wanted books, and WALL-E loved Captain. "Books." He bounced up and down on his treads.

"Books." EVE had been programmed to read and had offered to teach WALL-E. She swooped ahead and grasped the edges of the door. When it did not yield, she raised the blaster mounted in her arm and zapped the edges of the door with a laser beam. A second pull tore it away with a screee, and she tossed it aside.

WALL-E rolled inside, rattling over debris and a few scattered books that had spilled to the floor. "Oh," he said in dismay and rolled away from them. Cockroach perked up and scooted down WALL-E's arm to explore them. He liked books almost as much as those Twinkie things with the white stuff in the middle. Wiggling into the spine of a damaged book, he vanished from sight. WALL-E left him to it since the book looked like it was broken, and went to the shelves.

He had never seen so many books in one place before. Some were huge and bound with dark colored covers, others small and bright, with pictures in many hues. He found one with a golden spine that had a picture on the cover of a strange creature with a long, long nose and huge floppy ears and another creature that was orange and black with stripes. It wasn't a human, and it wasn't a bot like any he'd seen on the Axiom. Maybe it was an animal. "Ee-vah?" he asked, holding it out to her to explain.

EVE studied it. "The Saggy Baggy Elephant," she read and widened her eye grids. "Elephant," she said in the voice she used when accessing her programming. "Five toed mammal characterized by a long, prehensile trunk and large tusks, with large, flapping ears." She studied the picture. She didn't recognize the other creature.

WALL-E didn't understand, either, and he didn't know what "tusks" were and couldn't see anything that might be tusks, but he liked the pictures, so he opened his compactor compartment and put the book inside. He could ask Computer to explain. Then he removed his BuyNLarge cooler from its hook on his back and opened it. Maybe there would be books here for Captain.

EVE studied the names of books, and added to the cooler the ones she decided might be useful. "Directive," she said proudly.

WALL-E bounced with joy. Since the ship had returned to Earth, he and his EVE had the same directive. They were to find useful things for Captain and the pioneers. They also found presents for their friends from the ship. Mary liked something called 'love stories'. WALL-E had found another tape of Hello, Dolly like the one he loved so much, and given it to her, and even found her a machine to play it on. He had shown her his dance with his trash can lid, and she and John had laughed in delight, and then had asked for a book about dancing. WALL-E had found them one four days ago. EVE said it was called How to Tango. He didn't understand what that meant, but when John and Mary learned, they would show him.

He rolled along the shelves, looking for pretty pictures. Maybe one day he could read them all, but not even Captain could read as well as EVE. He knew more about reading than anybody else on the ship, but he was Captain. He had fought the evil Auto-Pilot so the ship could return to Earth. WALL-E always brought him at least one treasure when he and EVE scouted. Captain deserved it.

He pulled out books and studied the pictures, but when he wasn't interested, he didn't toss them aside. He put them back on the shelves. EVE had scolded him for throwing books on the ground. "Directive," she had insisted.

What was the picture on this one? It was a strange, round thing, lumpy with red and brown and covered with orange stuff. He thought he'd seen a picture of it on Captain's screen on the Bridge. "Ee-vah?" He held it out to her and read the word, sounding it out very carefully. "Piz-uh?"

She took it from him and ran her blue scanner over it. "Peet-zah," she corrected.

"Pizza?" he knew that word. "Captain likes pizza!" He opened the book. His manipulator hands were not very good at pages, but he did it carefully. Inside the thin book were all kinds of pictures of pizza, with strange columns of words under them. "Ee-vah?"

She scanned the book very quickly, and her eyes sparkled. "How to make pizza," she explained.

"You make," he urged eagerly, gesturing toward her.

EVE giggled. WALL-E loved it when she giggled. "Make pizza on the ship," she said and pointed in its direction. Like WALL-E, she always knew what direction it was.

"Give to Captain," WALL-E decided. "Find pizza plants?"

EVE turned the book's pages, her eyes narrowing as she read. "No pizza plants," she said regretfully. "Ingredients."

That was a word WALL-E did not recognize. He tilted his head and focused his eyes on her. "'Gredients?" he tried.

She pointed to rows of lettering. "Give to Captain. He knows. Things to make pizza."

WALL-E didn't think the captain knew. But he learned things. Already he did so many things he hadn't done before. "Captain make pizza," he said triumphantly, and put the book in his storage compartment with Baggy Elephant so he could give it to Captain. EVE had filled his cooler with books, so he closed the lid and flipped it over to hang on his back. "Find Captain," he said and rolled toward the door, giving a whistle for Cockroach, who scuttled out of the book, and jumped on WALL-E's hand, ran up his arm, and perched jauntily on his shoulder. 

When they left the book place, EVE picked up the door, fitted it into place to keep out rain and dust, and held it while WALL-E welded it shut. Then they set off for the distant Axiom, hand in hand, the music from Hello, Dolly accompanying them on his recorder.

 

*****

 

The Captain surveyed the fields where things named corn and wheat grew, and the smaller fields that were called "vegetable patches" and grew things like carrots and tomatoes and other foods that he had only seen pictures of until now. Food on the Axiom had come in liquid form, served in pre-programmed cups at pre-programmed times of day. It possessed nutrient for people who had no idea what was healthy to eat, or even how to prepare food for themselves. Special treats like the cupcake in a cup to celebrate the Septuacentennial always brightened the atmosphere, but the Captain's computer had shown him much more interesting food. When the programming grew the embryos of cattle and ducks and turkeys from the frozen specimens in the cryo labs, they would have meat and fresh milk and other treats.

Maybe even pizza.

There was a pizza treat, usually offered once a month, a special cup of liquid pizza. But the pictures the Computer had shown him had looked so interesting. A stringy, drippy stuff on top of it was called cheese. Now that they were home on Earth, he wanted to eat a real pizza.

But pizza didn't grow on plants. He had learned that a few days ago. He had no idea how to get real pizza.

Idly, he wandered along to the well. The water it produced was cool and clear, and tasted far better than the water onboard the Axiom. People and construction bots were digging other wells, near each of the places people meant to settle when they left the ship for good.

Several people were at the well, drawing water in plastic buckets from the ship. They greeted the Captain cheerfully, and he smiled in return, then climbed up the hill behind the well.

Life on Earth would be dangerous. It would not be easy. But each day held excitement. Boredom had become a thing of the past. He looked up at the sky. The haze seemed thinner today. Often whole sections of sky were bright blue, just like his weather report had foretold. At times, he envied WALL-E his ability to record special moments with only a push of a button.

"Captain! Captain!"

He knew that voice. It was WALL-E, EVE swooping at his side and trailed happily by the little cleaning bot M-O, who eagerly cleaned WALL-E whenever he returned from a sortie. The little robot trundled up the hill's brand new path to the Captain's lookout, where he could survey the fields and the new construction, all the way down to the murky river, where bold explorers had discovered fish swimming in the water several days ago. The computer said fish could be "fried" and that it was very tasty, but must first be caught with poles, although he wasn't sure how that worked, or with nets. More to learn.

"WALL-E," he greeted the little bot. "EVE. M-O."

"A present," WALL-E said excitedly, his eyes focusing and refocusing, head tilting upward. He opened his front panel and took out a book. "For Captain. Pizza book."

There was an actual picture of pizza on the cover. The captain stared. "One Hundred Ways to Make Pizza," he read.

WALL-E clapped his hands together, his joy shining in his mechanical face. "Captain like?"

"Yes, Captain likes." He turned a few pages, never dreaming so many different kinds of pizza could be. He would spend a few hours with the computer, asking for definitions of the terms. Oven? What was that? Sausage? Ground beef? Onions? He knew the words, but he didn't think sausage-in-a-cup could create the result he saw here. 

But he would do it. He would find out, and he would make a pizza. He would make it with his own hands. He would invite his friends to share, and they would have a--a hoedown. There would be dancing like the dancing on WALL-E's video. And they wouldn't have it on the Lido Deck, either. They'd have it out in the world.

WALL-E flipped his cooler off his back and set it in front of the Captain. He and EVE said in perfect chorus, "Directive," and opened the box together. It was filled with books.

True, the computer could answer any question the captain asked, but when he saw those books, his fingers almost started to itch. He would read them and learn from them, learn about a world that was forgotten. He would choose the best and avoid the worst, because he was in charge, and he wanted only good things for the pioneers. His people would follow him.

"Thank you, WALL-E and EVE," he said and bowed to them. He had seen bowing in a video, once he had discovered a collection of ancient videos on the Axiom to teach the customs of the old before it was covered with trash.

WALL-E must have recognized the gesture because he gave a happy and excited sound at the sight of it and clapped his hands together. He had entertained himself with videos for hundreds of years, trapped alone on a polluted Earth, and had survived. Maybe that was how he had become more than just a clean-up bot. He had become a person, the captain realized. And so had EVE.

Could any of the other bots?

He flipped a few more pages of his new book, then set it aside to examine the others. One was about farming, another about world weather. These would be good. Winter would come, and his people, sheltered and conditioned to expect a constant 72 degrees, would face real shock when they understood how seasons changed, like they had during the first rainstorm.

But they would survive.

No, they would live.

WALL-E had no way to smile, but he could use his whole body to convey the attitude. "Ee-vuh, Ee-vuh," he cried and grabbed her hands. They spun around in a delighted circle, his pet cockroach perched on his shoulder, while little M-O spun after them, scrubbing away at the dust that settled on WALL-E's treads. 

"All clean," he reported at last. "All clean."

"All happy," he captain corrected, his pizza book tucked under his arm. Who knew what excitement the future would hold?

Life didn't get any better than this.


End file.
